President Donald Trump last week threatened to increase sanctions against Russia if it doesn't agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine and a peace deal. His comments came one day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also threatened more sanctions against Moscow, including its energy sector.
Deputy Treasury Secretary nominee Michael Faulkender said March 6 he wants to study whether changes should be made to the Biden administration’s October 2024 rule restricting outbound investment in China (see 2410280043).
Canada this week sanctioned seven people and three entities connected to ongoing fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The designations target Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan, leader of the SAF, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of the RSF, for their “refusal to negotiate in good faith and adhere to a permanent ceasefire,” Canada said. It also sanctioned various SAF and RSF officers along with Sudan Master Technology, a Sudanese company making weapons for SAF; Tradive General Trading L.L.C., an RSF front company; and Al Khaleej Bank, a financial institution with ties to the RSF.
The U.K. this week lifted sanctions on a range of entities that had ties to the overthrown Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria while keeping sanctions on people still connected to the regime or involved in illegal Syrian drug trade.
Although President Donald Trump has ordered his administration to reimpose maximum sanctions pressure against Iran, a State Department spokesperson on March 6 declined to say whether the U.S. plans to allow a waiver to expire this week that has authorized exports to Iraq of Iranian gas and electricity.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on March 6 again extended a general license that continues to delay an exemption that would authorize certain transactions related to Petroleos de Venezuela, the country’s state-owned energy company. General License 5R, which replaced GL 5Q, now authorizes certain transactions with PdVSA involving an 8.5% bond on or after July 3. The previous license was set to allow those transactions to occur on or after March 7.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11 along party lines March 6 to approve Washington trade lawyer Jeffrey Kessler to be undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, sending his nomination to the full Senate for its consideration.
Although the Bureau of Industry and Security recently resumed processing certain license applications that it had paused in early February as part of a broader export control policy review, the agency is still holding applications for a range of items destined to countries outside a group of about 40 U.S. allies and other trading partners, two people with knowledge of the holds said.
The U.S. should establish “some kind of new unit in our government” to focus on competing with China, a researcher told the House Homeland Security Committee March 5.
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., introduced a bill March 3 to repeal the sunset provision of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996. The existing law, which calls for sanctioning Iran’s weapons programs and support for terrorism, is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2026. The bill, entitled the Solidify Iran Sanctions Act, was referred to the House Foreign Affairs, Financial Services, Ways and Means, Judiciary, and Oversight and Government Reform committees.